Survival Skills was met with generally favorable reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 67, based on eight reviews.[1]
Steve Juon of RapReviews praised the album with a flawless 10 out of 10, claiming "Buckshot and KRS have achieved something rather remarkable here - an album I can't find a single fault with. There's not a bad beat, there's not a whack rhyme, there's not a collaborator on a track that missed the mark, and the disc itself is neither too short nor too long".[8]AllMusic's David Jeffries stated that "loyal hip-hop heads with a taste for the old-school boom bap shouldn't think twice and won't be disappointed".[2]Prefix Magazine reviewer called it "a call to arms, and a poetic, uncompromising one at that".[6]
In a mixed review, Andrew Rennie of Toronto-based Now said, "KRS-One's wordplay remains clever and topical, especially on the anti-Auto-Tune anthem "Robot", while his sanctimoniousness has been toned down to more tolerable levels. Black Moon's Buckshot is a comfortable pairing and, although his street-savvy sound may not have aged as well as some of his Duck Down Records brethren's, he still finds a familiar dynamic when rapping alongside old cohorts".[4] Writing for Spin, Mosi Reeves stated that "the beats by producers Black Milk, 9th Wonder and Havoc are strictly no-frills, but just hot enough to keep these cranky yet lovable old MCs' joints from stiffening up".[10] Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters reviewed, "Ultimately, Survival Skills does what its creators intended for it to do: to be resolute in its dedication to lyrical acumen and head nodding production. Had they also been more adventurous with the content, the album would have risen to another level".[7] Jesse Serwer of XXL said, "KRS and Buck might have first left Timberland-shaped footprints on hip-hop in the ’80s and early ’90s, respectively, but, on their first collaborative effort, they prove that not much has changed, and it truly is survival of the fittest".[11]
In a negative review, Tom Breihan of Pitchfork wrote, "to catch a glimpse of these guys' past glories in 2009, your best option is still to go see them live; this is just a souvenir".[5]
In his Consumer Guide, veteran music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention, saying it was "basically an old-school mixtape, wiser when it instructs the fathers than when it criticizes the sons"; he also picked its two songs "Think of All the Things" and "Runnin' Away".[9]
